i do alot of non-commital "hi's" here at the factory. and lots of "how are you" head nods. each time i pass a worker going up and down the stairs. in the mornings. at lunch. on the way to the bathroom. it's a rhythm of just saying "hi" and smiling and nodding. it's kind of nice. there's no strange moment, like at college, when you walk past an acquaintance and wonder whether the "hi" might lead to a little conversation. here, i just say hi and am done with it. i suppose i should talk to the workers more but they are off rushing to do their things, and i'm lazying around, heading to my little flute desk. i've been told my chinese has improved a little. but i think that's just because i'm talking more this time around. to the managers, to the handful of friends i have at the factory. i try to talk to the people who work on flutes next to me. but those conversations are usually along the lines of "how do i do this?" or "wow, how did you do that?"



i'm incredibly itchy.



there's an unspoken rift among the management and the workers. partly because the managment is mostly taiwanese, and the workers are chinese. and partly because the managers have their own bathroom, quarters and dining area. and the managers have AC. which my mom is changing, because she feels like the workers need some AC too to get to sleep on these hot summer nights. it's easy to forget sometimes that this here is a business. and that people are here for a paycheck. and it's easy to forget that the ties that bind are all monetary. i don't want to do that. to always be around people who are connected to me by occupation. reason #492 i don't want to do this. but i'm gonna make a grand push to be extra-social in my last week here. because hey, i'm a social being. or so i pretend.



all the giant trees surrounding my dad's memorial got torn down. they were brown and dying. from the winter and the bad sod. they are going to put in new smaller, healthier, alive, green trees. it looks very naked out there. a memorial park, without foliage to create the square.